Talents feel TKO is to blame.
The incident with CM Punk having to step in to stop a fan from violating the personal space of AJ Lee and Bayley during WrestleMania week has started a debate about talent security. Since then, we have learned of other names facing similar incidents all week, including Booker T getting filmed in the bathroom, and Sean Waltman getting assaulted by a fan.
Fightful Select recently provided an update on the reason behind it and the talent reactions. They noted that talents are responsible for hotel bookings on most shows, but WWE provides accommodation for bigger events like WrestleMania. Wrestlers being grouped together, however, leads to an increased rush of fans and autograph hounds. Some talents do opt to stay at different hotels, but it makes WWE arranging travel services more difficult.
Fucked From The Beginning
The almost unanimous sentiment among talent is that WWE and TKO need to do more to protect superstars. They believe that the company should be providing site security or paying talents to get security for themselves. One prominent female talent criticised the company for only doing damage control after the fact:
“It’s Vegas, we were fucked from the beginning. WWE never actually pre arranges good security. It’s like they wait until shit happens, then they do damage control or add security. We love the personal security teams, and they did as much as they could but hotel security was busy taking care of the problems you already have in Las Vegas.”
One talent believes that the rise in ticket prices under TKO management is a component fuelling the problem, as they feel like fans who would normally be willing to pay for meet and greets no longer find them financially accessible.
Though one wrestler did say that this kind of thing was to be expected during a busy weekend like WrestleMania. Another name thought that CM Punk should have handled things differently because of his past physical incidents.